{"id":295513,"date":"2026-05-16T03:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T03:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/295513\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T03:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T03:37:10","slug":"a-look-at-whats-next-for-victims-of-2-north-side-home-explosions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/295513\/","title":{"rendered":"A look at what\u2019s next for victims of 2 North Side home explosions"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Nearly one month after two homes exploded hours apart on a North Side street<\/a>, the five people injured in the blasts are navigating uncertain futures \u2014 still healing, still waiting for answers and, in some cases, already fighting back in court.<\/p>\n

The explosions happened on April 21 in the 15000 block of Preston Hollow Drive, which is located near Thousand Oaks Drive. <\/p>\n

San Antonio Fire Department officials said the blasts were likely caused by natural gas buildup. <\/p>\n

In all, five people were hospitalized. The victims were identified as Mayte Reeves, Jose Ochoa, Kimberly Nowell, Tim Nowell and the Nowells\u2019 teenage daughter. <\/p>\n

Fighting back in court<\/p>\n

For Reeves, Ochoa and the Nowell family, their recovery extends into the courtroom. All five victims have filed lawsuits against CPS Energy, accusing the utility of negligence.<\/p>\n

The Nowell family, whose home was the first to explode, filed their own lawsuit on May 8 and are represented by Dallas-based law firm Lyons & Simmons, LLP. <\/p>\n

Reeves and Ochoa, also represented Lyons & Simmons, LLP, allege that they were told it was safe to return home after the first explosion \u2014 only for their own home to explode shortly after.<\/p>\n

\u201cThough Plaintiffs (Reeves and Ochoa) survived, the Explosion and resulting fire left them catastrophically injured and permanently scarred,\u201d their lawsuit alleges. \u201cThey face a long, painful road ahead and their lives have been irreparably altered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both suits describe the explosions as \u201centirely preventable\u201d and accuse CPS Energy of operating a \u201cpoorly maintained, leaking, and deteriorating natural gas system.\u201d<\/p>\n

All victims are requesting jury trials and seeking more than $1 million each in damages. <\/p>\n

A CPS Energy spokesperson told KSAT the utility does not comment on active litigation. <\/p>\n

The utility is also seeking to withhold internal incident reports and root cause investigations from public records requests filed by KSAT.<\/p>\n

Long recovery ahead<\/p>\n

As of May 14, a Brooke Army Medical Center spokesperson confirmed that Kimberly Nowell is in serious condition, while Timothy Nowell and Reeves are in fair condition. <\/p>\n

Ochoa has since been released from the hospital, the spokesperson told KSAT. <\/p>\n

The teen injured in the first explosion was originally hospitalized at a separate hospital in critical condition, but has since been upgraded to fair condition. <\/p>\n

Waiting for answers<\/p>\n

Beyond their personal recoveries, the victims \u2014 like their neighbors \u2014 are still waiting to understand what caused the explosions in the first place.<\/p>\n

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is leading the federal investigation into the blasts. <\/p>\n

A preliminary report is expected approximately 30 days from the April 21 incident. <\/p>\n

A final report with a probable cause determination could take between 12 to 24 months.<\/p>\n

More Preston Hollow Explosions coverage on KSAT:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Nearly one month after two homes exploded hours apart on a North Side street, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[630,842,98249,633,82,84,83],"class_list":["post-295513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-fire","tag-north-side","tag-preston-hollow-explosions","tag-safd","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}